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Classic Tradition
note: unlike the fictional book in question, this article is still very much under construction, so please hold! This authoritative tome details the early beginnings of Naus Ralm. Started in the reign of Nyew Snoq, 3102 UC, it collated several written and spoken traditions. The final volume was completed 3190, a mere two years before the Royal Fire in Kanetsei, the result of an unauthorised attempt to ignite old gesti stockpiles by a minor clan leader, burnt down the Reils’ Archive, destroying much of the previous works. By then, the Classic Tradition was considered a textbook for most leaders, not just as a matter of historical interest but as an example of clanwide collaboration, and survived quite well. It survives even better in the present day; and is considered a standard housewarming gift. Finely decorated copies are popular as last-minute birth-day commissions in aristocratic circles. Events taking place before written records emerged are usually regarded as somewhat romanticised, but nevertheless highly accurate. Key chapters Pre-Union Before the Jelboom, the forest was home to primitive tribes; hardy people, constantly trundling around on foot, only focused on food, but remarkably resilient and cunning hunters. The steppe and tundra were home to other tribes, but these lived in basic houses and big tents. They communed more with nature and the great god Thingi, and were inspired to live a life of quiet pastoralism, herding reindeer and Verja (animals similar to Yakutian cattle). Proto-Union; the Jelboom 0UC- a massive, flaming object tears across the sky and destructs in a terrific boom, approximately at the border between the forest and steppe, flattening trees, incinerating grass and shaking up all nearby lands. A strange, shiny metal is scattered by the blast. A Kulej Sot of the Yant tribe is the first to notice them. His village devastated by a sudden rush of air and wood shot aloft by the immediate shockwave, Kulej boldly led an expedition into the crash zone, rebuilding the village within the crater itself. They soon realised the peculiar hard properties of the material brought by the impact (dubbed the Jelboom). It is said that while the hard material was first used for peaceful purposes, mainly tilling and restoring the shattered forest, the earliest landscaping project of the Naus Ralm, following a bitter feud, one of Kulej’s sons encouraged the Mizu tribe to raid Kulej’s town with weapons tipped with the Jelboom material. The Mizu tribe was a belligerent forest people who had gingerly settled down around the impact site; by that time, all the major Naus Ralm tribes had built settlements around the crater. They were inching closer to true co-operation, but, unfortunately, the plan to raid the town soon reached the upper echelons of both the Mizu and Yant clans. What had originally been a petty, though violent, act of vengeance had by then been overblown through word of mouth, so leaders on both sides felt that the other was preparing for a full scale war. The idea of a war was still new- even the ‘wilder’ forest tribes largely managed to co-exist peacefully, so the Mizus, Yants and several other tribes convened in Selo (the capital town of the pastoralist Yena tribe) to mediate the issue in an event chaired by the elderly Kulej himself. The talks broke down violently during a food break. Both the Mizu and Yant emissaries had approached the common eating table set up by the hosts, tense, and then, paranoia peaking, pulled out their spears and daggers and javelins- all tipped with the new material. A brutal riot followed; Kulej was fatally wounded in the bloody melee. The hard substance’s terrifying power became evident in this early conflict when Mizu and Yant settlements were effectively depopulated, their inhabitants either fleeing, dying, or captured in revenge attacks. Selo was not spared either. The war dragged on several years to 28 UC, more tribes being pulled into the fray. The war spread northward to the sedentary tundra tribes. All sides in the conflict- and no one knew quite how many sides there were at some point- raided their lands for livestock and drink as the lower steppe lands’ herds and farms became ruined- hunting wasn’t even possible as no one wanted to be roaming the warband-infested lands alone. It took a leader from the far northern tribes, Voja Animat of the Rasan, to end the war. Together with Esa Abet of the southern Yani tribe, they gathered disillusioned members of the Mizu and Yani. Originally preparing the outer tribes to enter the war as a third combatant, they had equipped a core group of proficient hunters and innovators with scraps of the Jelboom material; then, a Yani by the name of Ad Edanya came up with the concept of a wagon. Great efforts were poured into his invention; a huge wheeled wagon was constructed, to be pulled by all the remaining Verjas from Rasan lands. As the winter of 29UC approached, the Mizu and Yant coalitions gathered again outside the by-then-abandoned city of Selo for another violent clash. This was the prelude to a major, pitched, bloody battle; both sides knew it. Then an unexpected fog blew in, and a third group quietly entered the field; the Rasan coalition, dragging in several huge wagons bursting with food and produce and guarded by former Mizu and Yant warriors, their weapons drawn. The fog began to clear, and Voja Animat himself hopped on the food pile with a lit torch, and gave a speech illustrating the absurdity of the situation- why couldn’t they just live in peace? Alternatively, he could reach for his weapon strapped at his waist and charge into the fray as a third party, though that would also require him to lower his torch, and in the process set the food on fire. There are varying accounts of what happened next- some say there was still limited fighting, some say the commanders on both sides continued to egg their warriors on but were themselves murdered in a final spate of violence, but all agree that arms were laid down, and Voja and Esa took up residence in Selo as overseers as the tribes tried to pick up the pieces. The two men are regarded as proto-Reils of the Naus Ralm. Selo became a regal city. The first moats were dug, and artisans and inventors poured in. Relations between Voja and Esa were tense, but never hostile, and many folktales exist of their joint adventures and trials. While Selo was described as a fairly clean place with an air of authority, it was hardly a large city due to tight admission requirements, and the neighboring cities of Snacali and Poda attracted people from various tribes wanting to be close to decision making, and eventually the merchants and ancillaries followed. By the time Kona Sek of the Yena declared himself supreme Reil of the Naus Ralm, they had populations supposedly in the tens of thousands, maybe more. The First Intermediate Union Voja married another Rasan woman and had 3 sons. After his death, Esa declared a period of mourning, and declared that his sons, and all other pure Rasan male descendants, could inherit the title of Overseer. Rasan peoples gradually strengthened the duties of the Overseer over the years, and the position soon shifted from one of ensuring the tribes remained peaceful towards each other to one of rule. A primitive form of royal tax developed, as the trickle of people into Selo drew to a halt. Eventually, in 300 UC, Overseer Hakpo Animat declared that it was in the best interest of the Togetherness of Tribes- the Naus Ralm, that the overseer positions be converted into a ‘supreme chieftain’, or Nekjreil (a Rasan word, shortformed Reil) position. A bold Yena man, Kona Sek, stepped forward to request the title, pointing out that the longsuffering underclass of Selo knew how to lead with austerity, and Hakpo acceded. Until 650 UC, Yena men held the title of Reil. It wasn’t strictly reserved to the Sek clan, and had short ruling terms, with the Reil typically passing the role on to another person he was greatly indebted to after a short time on the top. While they had initially styled themselves as simple, devoted rulers, Selo started becoming more ornate and separated, inside and out. Moats and ditches and walls started to appear within the city itself in the name of safety and division of roles. The Great Intermediate Union In 650 UC, Tayokmir Seka, the Yena Reil of just a few months, decided to leave the confines of the city on a tour of surrounding areas. They’d stopped in a forest town, Osinov, capital of the Ornee tribes. On a whim, Tayokmir ordered his guards to stay behind while he went hunting. Entering a forest thicket, Tayokmir was promptly attacked by an enormous brown bear. Ona Kanok, leader of the Ornee, had been shadowing the Reil out of concern. He intervened just in time, he and his men greatly wounding the bear and rescuing Tayokmir. -typy typy typy this is still under construction- Category: Naus Ralm